Face Time with Target's Jason Goldberger

By John Vomhof Jr. – Staff reporter/broadcaster, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

Sep 13, 2013, 5:00am CDT

Jason Goldberger is on the forefront of retail’s rapid push into e-commerce and multichannel.

Goldberger joined Target Corp. as senior vice president of Target.com and mobile in February. In that role, he leads all functions associated with the retailer’s e-commerce business, including the user experience, merchandising and analytics.

Goldberger most recently was executive vice president for New York-based online retailer Gilt Groupe. He also previously worked for Omaha, Neb.-based Hayneedle and Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc.

He recently sat down with the Business Journal to chat about online retail and share some business advice. The interview was edited for brevity and clarity.

What brought you to Target?

I love Target, personally. Professionally, I’ve looked to Target with awe for the past 20 years. It’s just such an amazing company. On a personal level, I have a wife and two little kids. We’ve moved around the country and everywhere we’ve gone, Target has been an important part of our lives. So combining a professional interest, a personal love for shopping at Target and the e-commerce opportunity was just something I had to do.

How does online merchandising compare to store merchandising?

To us, there is one Target and one guest, meaning the guest just expects Target to be Target. She doesn’t distinguish between a Target store and Target.com. Obviously with dot-com, she may expect a broader assortment and more selection, but she still expects the same Target experience. While there is an independent Target.com merchandising team, we work hand-in-hand with the store team to make sure we’re providing that Target assortment.

How does the SKU count compare?

The store number is around 100,000 and Target.com is over 1 million. So it’s quite a bit more online, but it’s still a curated Target experience. What you’ll find online that you won’t find in stores are extended sizing and extended colors, as well as additional brands.

What are some of the biggest challenges that lie ahead for Target.com?

As we start building a true multichannel existence — where Target is a part of our guests’ life whether it’s on her mobile phone, on her desktop, in the store or on her mobile phone while in the store — that’s a new and complicated space. There are a lot of things that have to come together to offer a great e-commerce experience, but all of Target’s competitors have the same challenges.

What’s something about Target.com that might surprise the average shopper?

You hear people say they “slapped up a website.” I really wish it was that easy. I’d certainly sleep better if it was. Literally hundreds of people and countless systems have to come together for you to see just one quality Web page. From a guest’s perspective, I don’t want her to ever have to think about that.

How much of your household’s shopping is done online?

I buy an awful lot online, and my family certainly does, but I just look at it as shopping. By the time I get a chance to do anything, it’s often late at night, the kids are in bed and it’s finally quiet. There aren’t a lot of stores open at 10 p.m., so I do an awful lot of online shopping. But, on the other hand, I’ve always been a big believer in stores. Guests like the store experience.

What was your first job and what did you learn from it?

My first job was delivering the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette before school every morning when I was 13. That was back when the morning paper was a key part of people’s lives. Mr. Smith leaves at 6 a.m. and the paper better be there before he leaves. And, by the way, they don’t call your cellphone, they call your house. Mom got the call. It was all about customer service — understanding that every customer was similar, yet very different. It’s important to have a standard for customer service, but also you have to adjust it based upon people’s needs and wants.

What business advice would you share with someone early in their career?

Get really good at something. If you’re in accounting, get really good at it. Get to the point where you’re an expert at it, then expand from there. It’s exciting to try new things, but it’s also important to get real depth. When you have depth in something, then you can expand and grow from that.

How do you know when to make that move?

You always want to be at the point where you’re slightly uncomfortable. If you’re in a position where you’re not slightly uncomfortable, you’re probably not learning.

Any other advice?

Mentors don’t just come from the top down. Every single person you interact with can teach you something. Every customer, every guest, every manager, every employee. Anybody you work with — good and bad — can teach you something, and it’s important to learn from those lessons. Sometimes those are lessons in what not to do.

Give me an example.

The difference between listening and waiting to talk. When you ask a question, are you really hearing the answer or is your question the point itself? When you ask a question, care what the person says. Otherwise, there’s a better way to do it.

By John Vomhof Jr. – Staff reporter/broadcaster, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal